1Cor 14:39, 1Th 5:19-20 | Barnes | STEP | Verse 39. Covet to prophesy . . This is the summing up of all that he had said. It was desirable that a man should wish to be able to speak, under the teaching of the Holy Spirit, in such a manner as to edify the church. And forbid not , etc. Do not suppose that the power of speaking foreign languages is useless, or is to be despised, or that it is to be prohibited. In its own place it is a valuable endowment; and on proper occasions the talent should be exercised. See in . (*) "tongues" "in different languages"

1 Corinthians 14:39

Verse 39. Covet to prophesy. 1Cor 14:1. This is the summing up of all that he had said. It was desirable that a man should wish to be able to speak, under the teaching of the Holy Spirit, in such a manner as to edify the church.

And forbid not, etc. Do not suppose that the power of speaking foreign languages is useless, or is to be despised, or that it is to be prohibited. In its own place it is a valuable endowment; and on proper occasions the talent should be exercised. See in 1Cor 14:22.

(*) "tongues" "in different languages"

1 Thessalonians 5:19-20

Verse 19. Quench not the Spirit. This language is taken from the way of putting out a fire; and the sense is, we are not to extinguish the influences of the Holy Spirit in our hearts; Possibly there may be an allusion here to fire on an altar, which was to be kept constantly burning. This fire may have been regarded as emblematic of devotion, and as denoting that that devotion was never to become extinct. The Holy Spirit is the source of true devotion, and hence the enkindlings of piety in the heart, by the Spirit, are never to be quenched. Fire may be put out by pouring on water; or by covering it with any incombustible substance; or by neglecting to supply fuel. If it is to be made to burn, it must be nourished with proper care and attention. The Holy Spirit, in his influences on the soul, is here compared with fire that might be made to burn more intensely, or that might be extinguished. In a similar manner the apostle gives this direction to Timothy, "I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up (αναζωπυρειν, kindle up, cause to burn) the gift of God,"2Ti 1:6. Anything that will tend to damp the ardour of piety in the soul; to chill our feelings; to render us cold and lifeless in the service of God, may be regarded as "quenching the Spirit." Neglect of cultivating the Christian graces, or of prayer, of the Bible, of the sanctuary, of a careful watchfulness over the heart, will do it. Worldliness, vanity, levity, ambition, pride, the love of dress, or indulgence in an improper train of thought, will do it. It is a great rule in religion that all the piety which there is in the soul is the fair result of culture. A man has no more religion than he intends to have; he has no graces of the Spirit which he does not seek; he has no deadness to the world which is not the object of his sincere desire, and which he does not aim to have. Any one, if he will, may make elevated attainments in the divine life; or he may make his religion merely a religion of form, and know little of its power and its consolations.

(f) "Quench" Eph 4:30 Verse 20. Despise not prophesyings. On the subject of prophesyings in the early Christian church, 1Cor 14:1, seq. The reference here seems to be to preaching. They were not to undervalue it in comparison with other things. It is possible that in Thessalonica, as appears to have been the case subsequently in Corinth, (comp. 1Cor 14:19, there were those who regarded the power of working miracles, or of speaking in unknown tongues, as a much more eminent endowment than that of stating the truths of religion in language easily understood. It would not be unnatural that comparisons should be made between these two classes of endowments, much to the disadvantage of the latter; and hence may have arisen this solemn caution not to disregard or despise the ability to make known divine truth in intelligible language. A similar counsel may not be inapplicable to us now. The office of setting forth the truth of God is to be the permanent office in the church; that of speaking foreign languages by miraculous endowment, was to be temporary. But the office of addressing mankind on the great duties of religion, and of publishing salvation, is to be God's great ordinance for converting the world. It should not be despised, and no man commends his own wisdom who contemns it--for

(1.) it is God's appointment--the means which he has designated for saving men.

(2.) It has too much to entitle it to respect to make it proper to despise or contemn it. There is nothing else that has so much power over mankind as the preaching of the gospel: there is no other institution of heaven or earth, among men, that is destined to exert so wide and permanent an influence as the Christian ministry.

(3.) It is an influence which is wholly good. No man is made the poorer, or the less respectable, or more miserable in life or in death, by following the counsels of a minister of Christ when he makes known the gospel.

(4.) He who despises it contemns that which is designed to promote his own welfare, and which is indispensable for his salvation. It remains yet to be shown that any man has promoted his own happiness, or the welfare of his family, by affecting to treat with contempt the instructions of the Christian ministry.

(g) "no prophesying" 1Cor 14:1,39